


Out of Darkness: We Are Family

by NerdyChicksHaveMoreFun



Series: Out of Darkness Series [1]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Family, Khan Noonien Singh - Freeform, Other, Star Trek Into Darkness, khan - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-27
Updated: 2015-05-27
Packaged: 2018-04-01 14:40:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4023676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdyChicksHaveMoreFun/pseuds/NerdyChicksHaveMoreFun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How cruel of fate, that in the end I would be torn between two worlds, though I belonged to neither. How much crueler that I would have to watch what it did to Khan and the Enterprise crew alike. But though it may tear me apart, I am determined to protect them both; for as much as they dislike each other, both groups are family to me. (Slightly AUish. Gonna rewrite first chapters).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out of Darkness: We Are Family

**Author's Note:**

> This is NOT a Khan/OC fic, though the two are close. The main character is an OC, but is paired with another OC. Auish and angsty, with a focus on the value of family, as the title probably told you.   
> Comment your love, (or hate, as long as you do it politely).

As I do every night, when I drifted into the vast abyss of sleep, I dream.

**Prologue**

_Blue. Not the blue of water, not the blue of the sky or of a baby’s eyes, but a deep, vibrant blue that was somehow different and distinct in my mind from all other shades of the color._

_Blue is the sole color appearing in a sea of blurry black and white shapes. For a moment I’m disoriented, unnerved even. Then my vision shifts, and I yelp as a man appears beside me. He laughs, a deep, rich sound that instantly calms my nerves; I would know that voice anywhere. I turn to face him, returning the smile I know I’ll find._

_Ah, there’s that shade of blue, thats gentleness and familiarity in itself can ease the sharp pain in my heart._

_“You’ve got company.” my old friend says with a smile, nodding to a spot over my shoulder. I turn to find three familiar faces strolling leisurely towards us. One is a light-haired young man, eyes similar to my old friend’s; he is flanked by a dark-haired man with angular features and an older man with brown, smiling eyes. My smile widens at the sight of my crew mates, my friends._

_I turn to my old friend, grabbing his hand and tugging him forward, wanting to introduce him the people who have become my family. But he pulls away, and when I look back a stab of pain goes through my heart; his eyes, which held such warmth and affection a minute ago, hold icey rage, and that he could ever look at me-or anyone from our family-with such contempt comes almost as a physical blow._

_"They're Starfleet." he growls, spitting the out the word as though its poisonous._

_"So?" I ask, confused. As far as I know, Starfleet has committed no sin other than being led largely in part by some highly incompetent humans._

_"So? SO?!" my friend says, anger raising his voice. "Need I remind you who killed everyone you cared about? Who ripped the only family you ever had away from you?!". He shouts, and I see the pain flash in his eyes, perfectly matching mine. When he speaks again, his voice is quieter, barely above a whisper, but it conveys more emotion than any of his shouting ever could._

_"Need I remind you who killed me?"_

_The memories come back in a rush. No. I need no reminder. The name rolls of my tongue with such hate that I almost- almost- surprise myself._

_"Marcus." I growl darkly._ He _killed the man who stands before, a man who was my friend, my brother. All to prove what would happen to the rest of them if I continued to try to free them._ He _demolished the hanger, with all of our crew inside, when his 'point' only proved a motivation for me._

_I know that look in my friend’s eyes; in his eyes, Starfleet is the enemy, a threat. And few people my friend has perceived as such live very long. Anyone unlucky enough to cross his path will die; especially now, when he needs to take out his anger over the death of our crew-and maybe even his own death, as I’m unsure about how he feels on being dead-on the closest faction he can find._

_"No, Khan." I say, in a vain attempt to quell his anger. "Marcus acted on his own. It wasn’t their fault. They don't even know about it.”_

_"No, they don't." a voice says, and my blood runs cold. Like Khan's, I would know that voice anywhere, but for an entirely different reason. I whirl around._

_Marcus._

_"And it_ will _stay that way." He adds._

_He moves quick for a man of his age. Though he appears a good distance behind my Starfleet friends, long strides means he gains on them quickly. Terror grips me; In that moment, all I can think about is the memory of Khan’s blue eyes, devoid of life, staring back at me without really seeing; about watching the hangar explode in a ball of fire, knowing everyone I ever cared about is inside and that I can do nothing to stop it. All I can think about is knowing that I failed to save Khan, and disgraced his memory by not saving the crew._

_All this-the pain, the helplessness, the self-loathing-flashed through my head in a second. I scream as loud as I can, telling them to run, to get away, trying, without success, to warn them of what I know Marcus will do to them if he reaches them. They don't hear me, continuing to obliviously stroll towards us, smiling, as though sharing some inside joke._

_Marcus is in feet of them within minutes. As my desperation rises, I try to run forward, knowing that if I reach them I can protect them, thinking that at least buy them some time to get away, only to find that I can’t move. I’m glued in place, unable to move, knowing I can do nothing. Knowing I’m as helpless as when I watched as the hangar exploded. Then Marcus reaches them._

_I see my light-haired friend turn in greeting._

_“Hello, Admiral Marcus. Can I help you with anything?” I hear him say. And suddenly I’m right there, less than a foot away from Marcus and the trio, Khan a couple feet away. I see the the warm smile on my friends face as he greets who he thinks is just a fellow Starfleet officer._

_“RUN, you idiots, RUN!! Get out of here!!” I shout. The light-haired man turns towards me, that pleasant smile still stupidly plastered to his face._

_"Why?" he asks innocently. "He's never done anything to harm us. Why would he? He has no reason."_

_He's right. He didn't have any reason to harm them._

_Until I came along._

_Before I created my alias and joined Starfleet, Marcus would have barely noticed their existence. Now, though, he can't take any chances; my testimony would ruin his career (not to mention his little "project"), and I and anyone I've become close to are liabilities, to be eliminated._

_So no, Marcus shouldn't have a reason to hurt them. But because of me, he does._

_"Well?" my friend persists. "What reason does he have?"_

_"No hard feelings, friends." Marcus interjects. I'd almost forgotten he was here. Almost. "Just tying up loose ends. You understand."_

_Realization dawns on my friends as they finally realize why Marcus is here, and I see the fear in their eyes. They simultaneously turn to me- why do they turn to me, why do they they think that I can do anything when I've proven time and time again I can't? - and I'm powerless to do anything but watch._

_I watch as bullets rip through my older friend; Pike, who first showed me that the humans were worth anything, collapses to the ground as the life drains from him. The other two watch, stunned, and in that moment Marcus reaches out and violently jerks my light-haired friend's to the side, and he drops, neck broken, instantly dead. Jim, so like Savio and Bal and perhaps even myself, somehow just as mortal as everyone else. My dark-haired friend is the only one to grasp the situation enough that he turns and runs, but even he only goes two steps before Marcus uses his full weight into a body slam that sends Spock sprawling onto the ground._

_In an instant, Marcus has a phaser out and aimed at his head, finger at the trigger._

_"No!". The sound is out of my mouth before I even realize it. Marcus pauses, turning his head. The smile on his face makes my stomach lurch; theres a evil look to it, a look of twisted pleasure at my pain._

_"How touching." he says, looking from me to my friend and back. "Not at all surprising, though. You half-breeds have to stick together.". He gives my friend a sharp kick. "After all, nobody else care about what happens to you."_

_"That's not true." Khan says. Coming to my defense even when I don't need him to._ Because you'll always be weaker _, a voice whispers._

_Marcus looks at him with surprise._

_"I almost forgot about you." he says. He looks at us closely, with great interest, as though hoping to uncover some hidden secret from the way we stand. Then he looks from Khan to my friend, his gaze settling on me. The look in his eyes sends a chill down my spine. He lowers the gun slightly. "Tell you what. I'll make you a deal." he says, looking at me. "I'll only kill one of them."_

_I anticipate his next words, and dread them._

_"But you will decide which one."_

_"No." I breath. It comes out barely above a whisper._

_"Oh, yes." he growls, barely managing to keep the twisted amusement out of his voice. "Choose."_

_"No."_

_"CHOOSE!"_

_"I CAN'T!"_

_That quiets him. Then he smiles one of his twisted smiles._

_"Then I kill them both."_

_“No!"_

_"Then choose." he says softly. I step back, horrified, the fact that I can once again move freely barely registering. I can't choose. Condemning a friend to death? I wouldn't, couldn't betray either of them. If I did, it would almost definitely destroy my already-precarious handle on sanity._

_This, piled on top of everything else... it would destroy me._

_"Come on. It can't be that hard. You must like one of them at least a little bit more than the other. Just choose." Marcus urges in a gentle, soothing voice. "Don't think of it as killing one of your friends. Think of it of saving the other."_

_I remain silent, staring at my friend's pleading eyes._

_"Fine." he says with a sigh. His arm snaps up, the phaser aimed at Khan and a finger on the trigger._

_"No!"_

_"So your answer is that one?" he says, nodding at my last remaining Starfleet friend. I turn my back, not being able to bear the look of betrayal I know I'll find in his eyes. Khan wraps his arms around me, as though trying to shield me from the wave of pain that accompanies my answer._

_"Yes."_

_"In that case..." Marcus says, and I hear the smile in his voice._

_"I'm sorry, Spock." I whisper. It's one of the hardest decision I've ever had to make, and I know what it will do to me, how it will tear me apart and eat me alive. But I was powerless to protect Khan once, and I refuse to let him die again. What happens me is irrelevant._

_The sound of the shot cracks through the air as my eyes fill with tears. Infuriating as he can be, Spock is family, and I tossed his life away. I burry my head in Khan's shoulder as I try to keep myself under control, and he rests his head on my head._

_"It's okay." he whispers. "I'm right here. You have my word I won't leave."_

_Then a second shot goes off._

_I stare in horror as Khan slumps limply in my arms, blood seeping from the round hole between his eyes._

_"Don't make promises you can't keep, Khan." Marcus says with a wicked grin._

_And as my heart shatters, his maniacal laughter chases me back to reality._

 


End file.
